Best Free WordPress Themes of 2024: Tried and Reviewed

As of 2024, there are around 1.98 billion websites. WordPress is used by over 835 million websites worldwide, and with over 2 million downloads per year, WordPress usage is continuously increasing.

According to W3Techs, its overall website market share was 27.3% at the beginning of 2017, growing to 43.1% in January 2024.

The developer community is extensive, with 11,938 free themes currently available in the WordPress theme store (as of the time of publication of this article).

With so many options, deciding which theme to install for your website is difficult. This article is based on our experience and includes Tried, Tested, and Reviewed sections and demos.

How to Pick?

As SEO experts, our job is to research and find the best methods to optimize websites. Choosing a theme follows the same principle; we conduct numerous tests before making a final decision to ensure the data is accurate and reliable.

Where have we tested?

With nearly 15 years of experience in the field, we have built a system PBN (Private Blog Networks) across up to over 1,000 sites. We have conducted tests on these websites as well as on client’s websites. Therefore, when it comes to identifying a good theme, we are confident that we have enough experience to share with you. Below are our consolidated insights on the key considerations when choosing and installing a theme for your website that you might find very useful.

Compatibility: (Responsive theme)

Firstly, choosing a suitable theme with diverse, vibrant, and attractive interfaces will help ensure that the website stands out. This is the most important factor in determining whether customers stay on the website and explore further. A beautiful and fitting interface will captivate users, positively impacting their emotions.

When customers are truly captivated and fond of the content presented upfront, then they become interested in exploring to address their queries. Additionally, this is also the “face” of the business, significantly influencing user evaluations and decisions on whether to use the service or not.

Easy installation and usage

During testing, we always prioritize choosing themes with a simple installation process and high customization capabilities. A good theme will allow you to customize colors, fonts, layout, and many other elements without needing to know much about code.

Design

Certainly, a beautifully designed and attractive theme will always be our top priority. Depending on the industry, we will consider the layout of the theme, colors, fonts, and other factors to create harmony and aesthetics.

Many utilities and widgets

A good theme needs to be compatible with multiple browsers and can automatically adjust the interface to fit the size and resolution of different devices, such as computers, phones, and tablets.

You should check if the theme is responsive and ensures a good user experience on all platforms.

SEO Optimization

Your website is made up of code and it will be highly trustworthy if it uses completely clean code. Similarly, if a Theme is optimized with clean code, it will help increase the speed of updating essential SEO elements such as meta tags, titles, and also page loading speed. This will help the website become safe and trustworthy and help search engines easily crawl the website information.

Support and Community

A theme with reliable support and regular updates will help keep the website secure and up-to-date with the latest web standards. Check the information about the theme’s support and update history.

Furthermore, check if the theme is pushed to WordPress.org. Themes stored on WordPress.org allow user freedom just like WordPress itself, this means they are all 100% GPL or compatible. You can trust the credibility of the theme based on statistics (such as download counts, feedback on forums, and reviews from users who have used the theme).

Price

• Free theme: Available in WordPress.org theme repository. The advantages are ease of use and code savings. The downside is that there are often fewer features and customization than paid themes.
• Paid themes: Sold by professional theme developers. The advantage is more features and customizations, and better support. The downside is the cost.

Note: Our recommendations below will only focus on the theme’s free features.

Our Top Picks

Presently, there are thousands of diverse free WordPress themes accessible to fulfill most fundamental website requirements. Users can acquire themes directly from the WordPress theme library or opt for premium versions with enhanced features from third-party providers.

It would be challenging for us to answer the question of which theme is the best because each theme possesses its own strengths. Therefore, here are our suggestions for you concerning some standout themes based on particular situations.

• Best for many uses: ASTRA
• Best for business and agency: Sydney
• Best for e-commerce: Kadence
• Best for magazine: Newsmatic
• Best for blog: GenePress

Best free versatile WordPress themes for many uses

ASTRA

Responsive Stats:

• Active Installations: 1+ million
• Last updated: May 8, 2024

Astra is popular because it’s flexible, fast, and highly customizable. It’s known as the lightest theme available.

Astra is proud of its features that boost performance and keep it light by optimizing code, using pure JavaScript, and storing many Google fonts.

With a total page size under 50 KB, it significantly impacts loading speed, optimizing search engine (SEO), and enhancing user experience.

Astra works with popular WordPress plugins like Yoast SEO and All in One SEO. It also works well with drag-and-drop page builders like WPBakery.

Great features of Astra include:

• AMP compatibility: This feature is highly favored by search engines Coupled with its support for WooCommerce, it makes it ideal for online stores
• Schema.org Markup: This markup is integrated into Astra with advantaged optional functions to make it easy for search engines to read and display important website information
• Diverse templates: With over 280 free templates, you have the freedom to choose your favorite page builder to further customize templates, such as the Block Editor or Beaver Builder
• AI website builder: helps speed up WordPress page creation, simplifying the steps

We like Astra theme because:

• The lightweight nature of Astra offers excellent loading speeds
• Allows for detailed header and footer customization with several pre-made layouts and the ability to set transparent headers.
• No other WordPress plugins are required to be installed to incorporate social icons. We can instantly choose our favorite social network and link it using the built-in options in Astra
• Pre-built WordPress makes it easy to get started, even for beginners

In our review, this is one of the best themes in terms of providing flexibility and design customization without needing to upgrade to the Pro version. However, if you are a business owner and want to sell physical or digital products through your blog, we highly recommend using the premium version. The comprehensive features of the Pro version will leave you very satisfied (priced at just $44-$174 per year or $224-$874 for a lifetime subscription).

Download FREE Version

Hello Elementor

Responsive Stats:

• Active Installations: 1+ million
• Last updated: January 24, 2024

Hello Elementor is on this list because of the great features inside this theme.

The Hello Elementor theme is designed to work perfectly with the Elementor page builder. This lets you have full control over building your website.

With just two drag-and-drop actions, Elementor makes it very easy to create a beautiful website.

Elementor is fully responsive, so you can preview your page on all screen sizes.

It also lets you create header and footer templates and change the blog post layout.

Even though it focuses on speed and reducing resource use, the Elementor toolkit library offers over 300 website templates for any type of website in any field.

Great features of Hello Elementor include:

• Huge flexibility in terms of modern design and blog page layout
• Theme is integrated to work seamlessly with Elementor
• Elementor offers support for WooCommerce, ready-for e-commerce

We like Hello Elementor theme because:

• The theme is easy to use with hundreds of template sets and extremely user-friendly design elements, ensuring quality in both UX/UI in each design.
• Elementor lets drill down into the details, easily creating websites and templates with its powerful page builder
• We also love its AI integration that allows us to create custom CSS to extend our designs

If you are some who wants to create a custom WordPress website without coding or design skills then use Elementor. With the Elementor template set, beginners can also create a website for their business that will help them stand out from the crowd, and it’s all completely free.

Download FREE Version

OceanWP

Responsive Stats:

• Active Installations: 600,000+
• Last updated: March 27, 2024

OceanWP is one of the most popular themes, with over 700,000 active installations.

It is loved for working well with all types of websites, from personal blogs to online stores.

Furthermore, the built-in theme tools are free, offering extra features like sliders, social media icons, and customizable sidebars.

The great features of OceanWP include:

• More than 220 pre-built layouts allow users to easily create a UI/UX standard website
• Compatibility with both Elementor and Gutenberg blocks for page building
• A wide selection of user-friendly design options for page layouts, headers, and blogs
• Plugins that add features like import/export, custom settings, top bar settings, and more

We like OceanWP theme because:

• The design and layout are highly customizable
• Fast loading speeds on all devices

We chose to use the pro version immediately for this theme, not because the free version couldn’t handle it, but because we’re extremely impressed with its features. After upgrading to the pro version, we had the perfect online store.

Download FREE Version

Best free WordPress themes for business and agency

Sydney

Responsive Stats:

• Last updated: May 6, 2024
• Active Installations: 100,000+

Sydney WordPress theme is one of the most popular free themes available.

This versatile theme is great for business owners and works very well with Elementor. It even includes some exclusive widgets for Elementor that users can use with this popular page builder.

Great features of Sydney include:

• Header presets: help capture your audience’s attention from the moment they land on your site with a striking header design
• Sydney studio: with built-in visual elements, content layouts, and sections, you can quickly set up your website
• Hooking system: allows users to insert custom HTML or shortcodes into specific areas of their website without modifying the theme’s core files

We like Sydney theme because:

• It provides users with various headers, layouts, and mobile-friendly designs
• It offers up to three blog layouts and six archive page layouts
• All the widgets complement Elementor
• It comes with built-in custom branding and typography options

The free version of Sydney theme may not offer the best features in terms of template selection and editing options. The lack of one-page starter demos also means you have to learn a little more in designing your website. If possible, consider using the upgraded version (paid packages start at $59/year).

Download FREE Version

Hestia

Responsive Stats:

• Active Installations: 100,000+
• Last updated: April 5, 2024

Hestia theme is all you need in a free WordPress theme if you are a business or agency. Its simplifies the process of creating a beautiful and highly effective WordPress website without taking up too much time

Hestia comes fully equipped with integrated features compatible with popular page builders like Visual Composer, Elementor, etc., as well as native Gutenberg support.

Great features of Hestia include:

• Page Builder Support: Hestia is compatible with various page builders
• WordPress Customizer: Control theme settings through the WordPress Customizer
• Dedicated WooCommerce Layouts (pro): Users can choose dedicated layouts for WooCommerce to easily build online stores

We like Hestia theme because:

• Speed! We spend very little time building a fast-loading website with this lightweight theme
• Advanced security features and high-end technology help prevent data and malware from affecting the website
• Extremely easy to install, even for beginners, as it requires only configuration and customization without touching any code

Since Hestia doesn’t offer dedicated one-page templates, you’ll need to adapt the theme’s navigation menu to suit one-page sites. You may consider using the upgraded version to experience all its features (paid plans start at $69/year).

Download FREE Version

GeneratePress

Responsive Stats:

• Active Installations: 600,000+
• Last updated: February 6, 2024

GeneratorPress is one of the most popular themes in the WordPress Theme library. It is popular because of its simplicity and because it is extremely suitable for businesses or agencies.

Great features of GenePress include

• Extremely light and fast loading: only 912 kb
• Compatible with most Page Builders: is one of the few themes that every Page Builder recommends
• Highly customizable – Supports Live Customizer drag & drop
• Great support for Hooks and Filters for you to customize – expand features

We like GennetorPress theme because

• Standard code, very good SEO support (standard Schema markup) for us during use
• We can register for free on the forum and ask anything, experienced members and the author himself will support 24/24!
• GenerationPress is completely free, we can install and update from the WordPress Repository

Compared to the famous Genesis Framework, GeneratePress is quite similar in design and features but is much easier to use. Support and documentation are also friendly to all free and premium users. This set of Premium Addons from GeneratePress also brings extremely powerful features, with prices starting at $42/year).

Download FREE Version

Best free WordPress themes for e-commerce

Kadence

Responsive Stats:

• Active Installations: 300,000+
• Last updated: April 10, 2024

Kadence is a multipurpose WordPress Theme and it impressed us with its versatility as it allows creating lightning-fast websites in just a few minutes. It has ready-made templates for brands, celebrities, businesses small, e-commerce platforms and agencies.

Optimizing this theme’s performance is key for news websites, where load times can have a significant impact on reader engagement and retention.

Great features of Kadence include:

• Kadence is built with best SEO practices allowing schema markup, while also enabling customization of every aspect of the website such as header styles, colors, and fonts easily
• It integrates seamlessly with many core plugins like Elementor, WooCommerce, and Beaver Builder, allowing you to easily build feature-rich pages
• Kadence supports various post formats, facilitating the integration of multimedia content such as video reports, podcasts, and image essays

We like Kadence theme because:

• Easily create a satisfactory website, no coding required
• Create beautiful, standard e-commerce product pages, standard in both UI/UX
• Collect and analyze leads to increase sales
• Control website layout down to the pixel.

For us, Kadence Theme is the most feature-rich free WordPress theme ever released. There’s also a Pro version that offers even more innovation. You can pay $79 annually for the Kadence Pro theme.

Download FREE Version

Neve

Responsive Stats:

• Active Installations: 300,000+
• Last updated: April 27, 2024

Neve is a free, multipurpose WordPress theme that is very versatile and easy to customize. You can use it for blogs, business sites, online stores, and more.

It is highly responsive and very fast.

Neve has many features, more than most free WordPress themes. While it aims to encourage users to upgrade to the pro version, the free version is still very valuable.

The basic Neve theme is optimized for speed and performance and works well with powerful tools to help you create impressive websites.

Great features of Neve include:

• Neve is designed to work with AMP, reducing errors and improving the mobile user experience, especially in areas with slow network connections
• Neve lets users  easily adjust custom headers, footers, and layouts through a simple drag-and-drop feature in the WordPress customizer
• Neve caters to different user requirements by offering a variety of pricing options, from personal websites to large-scale dealerships

We like Neve theme because:

• The design is simple, highly intuitive, UI/UX standard and responsive on all devices
• The theme uses clean and validated code that humans and search engine bots love
• We can build a fast website with this lightweight theme

The price range for the paid versions of the Neve theme is from €69 to €259 per year. However, we find that the basic options included in the free offer are entirely sufficient for the needs of a small business. If you are an e-commerce seller, note that the paid version provides access to advanced features on WooCommerce.

Download FREE Version

Botiga

Responsive Stats:

• Active Installations: 20,000+
• Last updated: April 23, 2024

The most feature-packed free theme on our list is Botiga. All these styles are handled through the familiar WordPress customizer, including WooCommerce settings, making it easy for anyone to style.

Great features of Botiga include:

• Simple yet beautiful design: Botiga is designed with a simple yet visually appealing layout. Users can complete their projects immediately without needing to adjust anything
• Minimal plugin dependency: Botiga doesn’t have additional plugins but relies on well-configured caching plugins, ensuring exceptional page loading speed
• Default Gutenberg editor: Botiga theme utilizes the Gutenberg Editor by default, making it easy for users to optimize your website

We like Botiga theme because:

• The design is simple and easy on the eyes, easily attracting users who appreciate a minimalist design style
• Furthermore, the page loading speed is quite good, which we consider a big plus for this theme, helping to ensure a seamless and efficient browsing experience for website visitors
• The theme is quite user-friendly when it comes to customization, helping you save time and effort

We appreciate the theme’s features and expressed our love for Botiga. We used the demo and were extremely impressed with this theme and immediately signed up for the upgrade. Botiga has a basic free version and a premium version starting at $59/year.

Download FREE Version

Best free WordPress themes for magazine

Newsmatic

Responsive Stats:

• Active Installations: 10,000+
• Last updated: April 12, 2024

The Newsmatic Theme is perfect for anyone wanting to make a beautiful new website on WordPress.

Newsmatic Theme is designed with built-in custom controls in Live Customizer, allowing any non-technical user to set up and manage their website visually according to their needs.

Moreover, Newsmatic utilizes AJAX loading, so you can fully customize tools directly by editing all settings and previewing changes live before publishing.

Great features of Newsmatic theme include:

• Built with ReactJS for speed and high performance
• Allows free customization of 5 blocks: Grid, Carousel, List, Filter, and Ad Block
• Integration of 8 free custom-built widgets: Author Info, Carousel Post, Category Collection, Popular Post Slider, Post List, Post Grid, 2-column Post Grid, and Custom Header
• Direct image size, height, and border-radius editing from the custom tool.
• Custom ‘Live Now’ button on the header

We like Newsmatic theme because:

• Several pre-built layouts for creating stunning posts without any coding skills
• Minimalist design with modern graphics for creating a professional website
• Fully responsive layout that looks great on any device

Newsmatic is the complete solution for your news website. With only the free version you can fully take advantage of all the features to get a complete website, Pro version $59 – Single Site License.

Download FREE Version

Newsis (New Release)

Responsive Stats:

• Active Installations: 800+
• Last updated: March 17, 2024

Newsis – A powerful WordPress theme with unique features for magazine sites.

The Newsis theme is a recently released theme in WordPress that has a main slider along with 2 post columns at the bottom of the main banner section.

Newsis – A powerful WordPress theme with unique features for magazine sites.

In particular, the free version of the Newsis theme adds a custom Ads banner function that can be displayed on specific devices such as desktop, tablet or mobile.

Great features of Newsis include:

• Newsis theme gives you the power to enable the Offline Canvas menu so you can add more widgets
• Provided Newsletter/subscription options, direct search, and custom buttons for better user engagement and retention
• Integrates over four original demos and over 11 custom news widgets

We like Newsis theme because:

• Tested compatibility with WPML plugin
• Best free WordPress themes for blog

This new version Newsis brings unprecedented features and is a modern news WordPress theme ideal for magazine and news websites. We also recommend you the paid version, because the special features in this version are worth a try.

Download FREE Version

Best free WordPress themes for blog

GenePress

GenePress theme stands out as a lightweight, flexible theme, offering many customizable options for personal blogs.

GenePress comes in both free and premium versions, with the free version offering plenty of great features as well.

Great features of GenePress:

• Popular page builders like Beaver Builder and Elementor are integrated into GenePress, giving you full control over the design and functionality of your website
• GenePress includes various custom widgets, including Instagram feed, sliders, and post grids, allowing users to diversify their blogs
• Moreover, its minimalist design helps you easily create an eye-catching website without compromising performance or speed
• GenerationPress is highly suitable for food blogs, thanks to its responsive design ensuring your posts look stunning on all devices

We like GenePress theme because:

• User-friendly interface for beginners and those with limited design experience
• Provides extensive documentation with detailed guides on maximizing theme usage
• Built-in schema.org structured data

However, the free version is very limited. If you want to make your website more attractive or want to optimize each category of your online store, you won’t have many options. We recommend upgrading to the Pro version to take full advantage of the theme’s features (Premium version price: $42 per year ($249 lifetime).

Download FREE Version